He's been silent in public, but behind closed doors, MSU head coach John L. Smith has been startlingly clear.
Despite his team's recent troubles, with three consecutive losses, Smith told his team it still can keep its hopes for seeing a warmer place this holiday season.
"Coach told us that there's a lot of rumors going on that we are Detroit-bound, and we can't change that," sixth-year senior guard Paul Harker said. "We all know that if we come out Saturday and play a tough game that we know we can play … there's still a possibility of getting out of state and going to a good bowl game."
With every door open and a top-10 Bowl Championship Series ranking only three games ago, the Spartans now are on the other side, hoping to dig themselves out of a hole once again.
A win against Penn State would give the Spartans and the bowl committees plenty of options, but a loss would make the team a likely candidate to play in the Motor City Bowl in Detroit.
One former Spartan wouldn't mind that result at all. Former MSU head coach George Perles is now the CEO of the Motor City Bowl and would love to have the homestate team featured against a Mid-American Conference opponent.
"We'd love to have them," Perles said. "They are a good team this year, and it's my school. The big draw is a full house. It would guarantee us a full house.
"Michigan State is our first choice, but if we ended up with Wisconsin or Northwestern, we would be happy with that, too."
Much of the uncertainty surrounding where the Spartans will play is a result of the bowl system and the close conference standings, along with the BCS system.
The largest determining factor will be the result of Saturday's game, but most of the selection process will remain out of their hands in a complex system of bowl selections.
The first decision will be how many Big Ten teams go to a BCS bowl game. Ohio State and Michigan are tied for first place in the conference and face each other on Saturday.
If the Buckeyes win, they likely will go the national championship game and Michigan will fall in the rankings enough to end up out of the BCS standings. But if the Wolverines win the game, things could get interesting.
Depending on the results of several other games nationally, both Michigan and Ohio State could make the BCS, which could mean a better bowl game for the rest of the conference. The BCS won't be able to make its decisions until after Dec. 6, when the SEC and Big 12 championship games will be played.
The rest of the bowl-game committees with Big Ten ties then will pick teams, in order of conference standings. The committees select in order: Capital One Bowl, Outback Bowl, Alamo Bowl, Sun Bowl, Music City Bowl and Motor City Bowl.
The tricky, uncertain part comes when there are ties in the standings. When that occurs, each committee can select the team that they would like. They can use any criteria, from overall record to how well the team travels or even something ridiculous like preference for the team's colors or their uniform designs.
That means a win by MSU, Michigan and Indiana (over Purdue) could land the Spartans anywhere from the Capital One Bowl to the Music City Bowl, totally based on how much money a bowl game thinks the Spartans can make them.
So, collectively the Spartans have chosen to ignore the bowl predictions and just follow the cliché: Take things one game at a time.
When asked what was important for him, senior quarterback Jeff Smoker said, "For me it's about going out a winner. And, in turn, we're hoping to go somewhere nice."
Regardless of which bowl the team plays in, players such as Harker remain optimistic.
The last three losses have been tough, but the season as a whole is an improvement from last season, Harker said.
"If we could finish off 8-4, a complete turnaround, I don't think a lot of people would have expected that," he said.
With a loss, the Spartans would end up anywhere from the Sun Bowl to the Motor City Bowl, with a trip to Detroit more likely because of the local pull. But even that game could be difficult for the Spartans to win.
They could even be an underdog in that game, facing a MAC opponent that could be Miami (Ohio), ranked No. 14 in the BCS. But, at this point, MSU isn't that concerned about where they go. They care more about the fact they actually are going somewhere.
"Having been to the Citrus Bowl in 2000, that was a phenomenal experience," Harker said. "But I've been here for six years, and there's only been two bowls. They've been few and far between, so you can't be that picky."
